FedEx St. Jude Championship Round 3: Tommy Fleetwood Survives a Wild Saturday to Keep the Lead

Tommy Fleetwood spent Saturday at TPC Southwind losing the lead, taking it back, stretching it out again, and then watching a three-shot cushion shrink to one in the space of a single hole. He still sleeps on top in Memphis. The company behind him just got a lot more dangerous.

Fleetwood shot 1-under 69 in the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship to reach 14-under 196. Justin Rose (67) is one back at 13 under, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (65) is two back at 12 under, and U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun (65) and Andrew Novak (67) are three behind at 11 under. Rickie Fowler, Chris Kirk, Akshay Bhatia and Ben Griffin are among those at 9 under.

The Kerfuffle at Three

Fleetwood began the day three shots clear of Rose, who had come back early to finish a storm-delayed second round. A birdie at the second pushed the lead out further. Then came the par-5 third.

His second shot found the water. After the penalty drop, his wedge flew the green into a bunker. Fleetwood said afterward it felt like the ball had moved slightly as he hit the wedge, so rules officials went to the video. They could not determine that it had moved, ruled that Fleetwood had not caused anything, and issued no penalty. He still walked off with a double bogey.

"The third was just such a kerfuffle and such a mess," Fleetwood said, per the AP.

Rose ran off three straight birdies to take the lead. For a stretch, it looked like the two Englishmen and Ryder Cup teammates were about to swap roles.

Fleetwood Answers

Instead of unraveling, Fleetwood got back to work. He birdied the fifth, gave one back at the seventh, and birdied the ninth to turn in 35, per Irish Golfer. On the back nine he added birdies at 12 and 16, and by the time he stood on the 18th tee the lead was back to three.

The last hole has not been kind to him this week. For the second straight day he bogeyed 18, this time after driving into the rough and failing to reach the green. Per Field Level Media, it was the only fairway Fleetwood missed all round. Rose, meanwhile, hit out of the rough to about 5 feet and made birdie. That two-shot swing on one hole turned a comfortable Saturday night into a one-shot fight.

Fleetwood, still chasing a first PGA TOUR title at 34, kept the bigger picture in front of him. "It's just another opportunity for me to go out and try and have the best round of golf I can, enjoy being in that position," he said, per the PGA TOUR. He added that Sunday might be his day and might not, but that being there is the most important thing.

Rose, at 45, Still Hunting

Rose's 67 puts him in the final group with Fleetwood, and the résumé he brings into Sunday is not small. Per Field Level Media, Rose finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Masters this year, then placed sixth at the Scottish Open and 16th at The Open last month. At 45, Rose is trying to become the first player in his 40s to win on TOUR this season.

Rose and Fleetwood have been Ryder Cup teammates for Europe. On Sunday they will be playing against each other in the final group.

Scheffler Moves Into Range

If the leaders want to make Sunday nervous for themselves, they only need to look two shots back. Scheffler's 65 featured six birdies and only one bogey, at the 10th. The save of the day came at the 12th, where his bunker shot clipped a sprinkler head and stopped short of the green. He holed a 25-footer from the fringe to keep the card clean there, then birdied 16 and 18 on the way in.

The context makes two shots feel like nothing. Scheffler has not finished outside the top 10 since March, has already clinched the No. 1 seed, and is going for his fifth win of the year. He will play alongside Spaun, who made the biggest move of the day, climbing from a tie for 11th into a share of fourth.

Novak quietly matched Rose's 67, closing with back-to-back pars to stay three back.

The Other Leaderboard

While the top of the board sorted itself out, the race for the top 50 shifted again. Fowler and Kirk each shot 66, and per the PGA TOUR they were projected to move inside the line along with Bud Cauley and Jhonattan Vegas. Fowler finished the round tied for sixth, a big deal for a player who arrived in Memphis at No. 64.

Jordan Spieth went the other way. Another 70 left Spieth at risk of being bumped out of the top 50 and missing next week's BMW Championship.

Sunday's Setup

Fleetwood has been the best player for 54 holes, but the gap has gone from five at one point Friday to one. Rose has the momentum from the 18th green and a career full of big Sundays. Scheffler is two back and does not tend to give anything away late.

Fleetwood made a double bogey on Saturday and still finished the day in front. Whether that resilience holds for 18 more holes is the question that will hang over TPC Southwind until the final putt.

Catch up on the week with our Round 1 recap and Round 2 recap. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 3 recap (opens in a new tab) has more details.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 3 recap and leaderboard), AP, Field Level Media, Golf Channel, Irish Golfer. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.